Figure 1 displays the evolution of the labour force participation rate among married
women in the United States over the past half-century, as well as the number of divorces
per 1000 married women and the real hourly wage for employed married women. The
labour force participation rate reached a plateau in the 1990s after four decades of steady
growth. Meanwhile, the divorce rate rose sharply in the 1960s and 1970s, before
declining somewhat. Wages grew in most periods, but most steeply in the 1990s.